Thursday, June 22, 2017

Finished: MacDonald’s ‘Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper’

I’m a late-comer to him but finally getting around to knocking off some John D. MacDonald paperbacks. So far so good. He writes some fascinating stuff with unique plots that are out of the mainstream detective novels.

I don’t know if I’m ready to go as far as Jonathan Kellerman though, who says: “The Travis McGee novels are among the finest works of fiction ever penned by an American author.” But they've got my attention.

He had done a big favor for her husband, then for the lady herself. Now she’s dead, and Travis McGee finds that Helena Pearson Trescott had one last request of him: to find out why her beautiful daughter Maureen keeps trying to kill herself. But what can a devil-may-care beach bum do for a young troubled mind?

McGee makes his way to the prosperous town of Fort Courtney, Florida, where he realizes pretty quickly that something’s just not right. Not only has Maureen’s doctor killed herself, but a string of murders and suicides are piling up—and no one seems to have any answers.

Just when it seems that things can’t get any stranger, McGee becomes the lead suspect in the murder of a local nurse. As if Maureen didn’t have enough problems, the man on a mission to save her will have to save himself first—before time runs out.

This was written in 1968 so it’s not at all politically correct, which may be why I find it so refreshing.

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About Me

A fifth-generation South Dakotan, Haugen is a recovering journalist living in the Black Hills with his wife, one or two teenagers, two dogs and Ragnar, the pet rabbit.
Haugen is a former newspaper reporter, editor, sportswriter, publisher and award-winning columnist.
At various times he has lived in Montrose, Canton, Sioux Falls and Valley Springs. He's worked at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Tri-State Neighbor and owned the Tea & Harisburg Champion newspaper in Tea. He also had brief forays across state lines and worked at newspapers in Windom and Luverne, Minn., and Rock Valley, Iowa.
Haugen is also an avid runner and gardener.